The term ‘paralysed by fear‘ took on a new meaning for me today when I suddenly came into the same situation that used to trigger panic attacks while driving on motorways or highways.
I’ve been bothered by panic attacks while driving for quite some time now ( see my original story at www.fear-go.com).
Yesterday, I had to travel on a major , very busy motorway to visit my elderley Mum ( for those who don’t know it, a very busy highway in the UK ) now, I’d been totally free of anxiety attacks for quite a few months since I started working with a well known driving fear programme. However, this one came out of NOWHERE!
I was driving in the slow lane of the three lane motorway travelling at normal speed feeling totally confident when suddenly I noticed there were roadworks coming up, “Fine I thought, I don’t have motorway claustrophobia issues any more”.
Imagine this, three lanes of traffic, speed reduced to a safe 50 miles an hour, me in the slow lane, a truck in front and another truck behind, cars to the right of me and a long, long line of taffic cones of my left , soon followed by a metal barrier that seemed to stretch for miles!
This was the nightmare scenario that previously used to trigger panic attacks as a feeling of total claustrophia and of being trapped would rush over me andpass out while driving and cause a horrendous accident.~I would begin to feel more and more light headed and had the feeling of being about to faint and cause a serious accident.}
I’ve worked hard to deal with these issues using hypnotherapy and following a brilliant driving fear program and I believed that they were a thing of the past so, I have no idea where this panic attack materialised from.
Yesterday, I couldn’t get away from my cause of panic, Couldn’t stop or pull over, Just HAD to keep driving. I could feel myself becoming very light headed and very tense, it rapidly turned into the worst panic attack I had ever experienced, I could feel my hands tightening around the steering wheel, I tried to shake them out and loosen them up but my fingers were turning rigid, almost like a giant cramp beginning to work through me.
As soon as the panic started it triggered a subconscious reaction and brought to the forefront of my mind the mental training I had learned to deal with EXACTLY this kind of situation. Fact: Although people FEEL they will faint, they NEVER do!
I focussed so hard on breathing, breathe, drive, breathe, drive, I had opened my window to let in some cool area,who knows what the driver of the car next to me must have thought as there I was, turning white,breathing deeply, in and out, the same breathing exercises I had used when dealing with labour pains !
I kept on focussing and breathing until the roadworks cleared and traffic started spreading out and moving again.
I had got through it safely. This was the first time in all my panic attacks that I had not been able to pull over or stop and the best, most amazing thing of the whole experience is that I have now learned that I can deal with it, I can focus and breathe my way through the worst ever panic attack and keep on driving.
Soon after the roadworks cleared, I was able to pull over into a motorway cafe. I was shaking from head to toe, I literally had to peel my fingers off the steering wheel, I got out of the car to stretch my legs not even sure if my shaking legs could hold me up.
Of course they did, and I got over it and I’m still here to tell the tale but it certainly came to mind that this was exactly how it feels to be ‘paralysed with fear’.
The best part of this story and the reason why I write about it now, is that after I had taken a break and my heart had stopped racing and my body felt relaxed and normal again , what did I do?
Armed with my new confidence that I could actually breathe my way through and take control of my emotions , I jumped right back on the motorway again to continue my journey, expecting that there would NOT be any more roadworks that would be quite as long !!
How wrong can you be !!
About an hour later I started to see roadwork signs again but instead if panicking, knowing that I could breathe my way through and control my emotions I just laughed and yelled to myself I CAN DO THIS !
Sure enough, the cones were there, the metal barriers were there the trucks and the traffic were there, the EXACT SAME SCENARIO, but, GUESS WHAT??
The panic attack didn’t even start !
The feeling of confidence and relief that washed over me when I realised I could now DEAL with a panic attack was amazing and empowering
Somewhere , in my subconscious, all the ‘driving fear’ training that I had previously taken jumped in and helped me through my ‘crisis’ but , more importantly, the lessons I had learned from the Driving Fear Programme all came into effect in the most spectacular way.
I know there are many people out there who like the ‘old me’ suffer from debilitating fear while driving so please, take the steps to help yourself, it CAN be done, I’m living proof that you can fight your fear, help is out there that WILL see you though the worst of your driving fears!